Noam Chomsky is one of the most influential thinkers of our time. His books have had a major impact on linguistics, cognitive science, philosophy, and politics. In this post, we will take a look at some of his most important works and what makes them so special. Language and Mind In Language and Mind, Chomsky … Read more
For many, the late Christopher Hitchens was a controversial figure. He was an outspoken atheist and fierce critic of religion. He championed unpopular causes and fought against injustice. He was also an incredible writer and thinker, with a wit that was as sharp as a knife. If you’re looking to dive into the world of … Read more
In his book The Great Reset, author and radio host Alex Jones details his belief that the world is on the brink of a major societal upheaval. Jones argues that the global financial system is teetering on the edge of collapse and that, when it does finally crumble, the world as we know it will … Read more
Summary The American president has little power compared with European prime ministers. A president faces two parliaments, countless federal judges, and fifty sovereign states. He can rarely achieve anything, but he focuses the mind of the nation. The founders set this up intentionally, and it has stood the test of time. When the nation goes … Read more
In Living in the End Times, Zizek writes about the four horsemen of the imminent apocalypse. These are the ecological crisis, social divisions, the biogenetic revolution. and economic inequality. The book is structures according to the Kubler-Ross model (the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance). The death of capitalism is being grieved … Read more
The reason is, that the most attentive observation of the facts of history has invariably demonstrated to me that social organisms being every whit as complicated as those of all beings, it is in no wise in our power to force them to undergo on a sudden far-reaching transformations. Nature has recourse at times to … Read more
Selected excerpts from Things Hidden Since The Foundation of the World by Rene Girard. Fundamental Anthropology “The most we can do is to recognize as the one who produces symbolic forms, systems of signs, and who then confuses them with ‘reality’ itself, forgetting that in order to make reality meaningful he interposes an always particular … Read more
The Culture of Narcissism by Christopher Lasch was published in 1979. Lasch argues that the “me generation” that Tom Wolfe previously celebrated, was in fact, dysfunctional, empty, and worthy of contempt. He bases his argument on Sigmund Freud’s insights, who wrote an important paper on the subject called, On Narcissism. At first, Lasch points out … Read more
The Better Angels of our Nature by Steven Pinker argues that violence has declined with time. He does this by discussing the threats of violence one by one, going through what the statistical data shows us. Human malevolence is a constant threat to peace and prosperity, but while human beings do have an evil side, … Read more
So far, Pinker has argued that the history of human beings has been shaped by violence. He has also noted that violence has declined. There is nothing about human nature that is exclusively violent or peaceful. The environment that we occupy, either through our own innovations or by sheer accident, is what determines our movement … Read more